Practical Practice
Shooting a target while standing up at the range is a lot different from shooting a turkey while sitting in a ground blind. When practicing for a hunting trip, recreate your shooting scenario. Whether it will be standing, sitting, kneeling, and in or out of a ground blind.
Shooting a turkey
There’s no substitute for practicing in conditions that closely resemble those you’ll be hunting in, and this is especially true for bowhunters looking to bag a turkey. Turkeys are nervous birds with very small kill zones, so accurate shot placement is critical for getting a quick, clean kill.
Most bowhunters like to hunt turkey from a ground blind to avoid spooking birds as they draw their bows. Some hunters like to kneel in the blind to shoot, but most like to sit on some kind of chair. This can range from an overturned milk carton with a cushion on it, to a specially designed blind chair. Avoid chairs with arms that can restrict your drawing movement.
When hunting, you’ll rarely need to set a decoy more than five yards from your ground blind. Ten yards max. Five yards may seem very close. But while turkeys have excellent vision, they have lousy depth perception and often walk right up to your ground blind.
Simulating a turkey hunt
To practice shooting in a hunting environment, set up your ground blind and place a 3-D turkey target five yards away.
Experiment with different shot angles and shooting out different windows of the blind. Use arrows the same size and weight as the ones you would use hunting. You can practice with your hunting broadheads, or replace the broadheads with similarly weighted target tips.
Practice follow up shots as well. If you’ve wounded the bird, you may have to step out of the blind and take a second, longer shot. Practice getting out of your chair and out of the blind quickly and smoothly.
Step outside your blind and take several standing shots at a target 50 yards away, or your farthest sight pin.
This kind of real life practice will be invaluable on your actual turkey hunt.